The present invention relates generally to systems that document the geometry and other attributes of objects in three dimensions and, specifically, to a system that employs a scanning lidar (range finding laser) to quickly and accurately sense the position in three-dimensional space of selected points on the surface of an object to generate a point cloud which represents the sensed positions of the selected points; that recognizes geometric shapes represented by groups of points in the point cloud, and that generates a model that represents these geometric shapes. The model may be transformed into a further model usable by computer-aided design (CAD) tools, including conventional CAD tools.
Mapping the geometry (shape, dimensions and location) and other attributes (e.g., color, texture and reflectance intensity) of complex real objects (whether small components such as small mechanical parts or large objects such as buildings and sites) has conventionally been a tedious and time consuming process. That is, such measurement have traditionally been performed manually. In addition, transforming these measurements into drawings or computer models required manual drafting or input into a CAD system for the production of the drawing or computer models.
Recently innovations have endeavored to simplify this process, but all have fallen short of achieving full integration, automation, precision, speed and range. For example, in the building industry, mapping a structure conventionally requires three basic steps:
1. Field data gathering
2. Data reduction and preparation
3. Drafting and CAD
The field data gathering step is performed by a team of surveyors who manually measure and record dimensions of pertinent components of the structure such as walls, ceilings, beams, columns, doors, windows, fixtures, pipes, conduits and equipment. The surveyors attempt to determine the geometry of the components as well as the relative location of the components in the structure. The surveyors recorded the data in a field notebook. The field-collected data is then organized and reduced to tables and organized sketches, and a CAD operator or drafter utilizes these tables to generate final drawings or models.
This process is labor intensive, time consuming, and error prone. In addition, using traditional surveying methods, the number of points which can actually be measured is very limited, due to the high cost of acquiring each point in terms of time and effort. Furthermore, if it is desired to acquire color, texture and other attribute information, additional field notes must be taken (e.g., still photographs and video).
Recently, the field step has been somewhat automated by using a laser ranging device built into or mounted on an electronic theodolite. Precision reflection targets (retro reflectors) are placed at the locations of the object for which measurements are desired. Then, the laser ranging device obtains a precise measurement of the distance between the instrument and the target, which the theodolite provides an accurate indication of the horizontal and vertical angle offsets to the point relative to a given coordinate system. The distance and angle data are either recorded automatically on a magnetic device connected to the instrument or are reduced within the instrument to Cartesian coordinates relative to the instrument axes. This procedure is then repeated as many times as necessary to map a desired number of points of the object. The collected coordinates data can then be plotted directly on a CAD system.
Unfortunately, the plot is of little practical use since it does not indicate the object geometry. Moreover, because of the requirement for retro reflectors which must be manually placed, and because of the relatively long time per reading required by the laser range finder, the gathering of sufficient points to describe most objects is very labor intensive, time consuming and error prone.
Another known field gathering data process employs stereo photography and aerial photogrammetry. That is, stereoscopic images are taken of the objects and the resulting stereo photographs are registered either manually or using computerized techniques to reproduce the relative location of the camera picture plane location at the time each photograph was taken. The data reduction and preparation step is performed manually by a specially trained operator. Specifically, with the aid of specially mounted stereoscopic viewing lenses, the operator digitizes the coordinates of a sufficient number of points to allow the definition of the objects using the stereo photographs. Again, the digitized data is input into a CAD system or is manually drawn on paper.
The present invention is an integrated system for generating a model of a three-dimensional object. A scanning laser device scans the three-dimensional object and generates a point cloud. The points of the point cloud each indicate a location of a corresponding point on a surface of the object. A first model is generated, responsive to the point cloud, representing constituent geometric shapes of the object. A data file is generated, responsive to the first model, that can be inputted to a computer-aided design system.
The subject invention further includes a method of controlling the timing of output pulses from a laser for use in a device which requires scanning of the laser output, wherein each output pulse is generated in response to a pump pulse comprising the steps of: monitoring the time delay between the initiation of the pump pulses and the subsequent generation of the associated output pulses; predicting the time delay between the initiation of next pump pulse and the associated output pulse based on the monitored time delays and; initiating the next pump pulse at a time selected to insure the output pulse is generated at a time to permit proper positioning of the laser output during the scan of the beam.
The present invention further includes a method of manually separating from a plurality of clouds of points, representing three-dimensional features in a scene, a subset of the points that represents a desired feature in the scene, the method comprising: selecting all the point clouds that include at least some data points representing the desired feature; and changing a view of the clouds and drawing a polygonal lasso to refine a selected subset of points to be included in a point sub-cloud and repeating the refining as many times as required to obtain the desired sub-cloud.
The present invention further includes a method for automatically segmenting a scan field of a scene into subsets of points that represent different surfaces in the scene, comprising the steps of: separating the scan field into a depth grid that includes depth information for scanned points of surfaces in the scene and a normal grid that includes an estimate of a normal to scanned points of the surfaces; convolving the depth information of the depth grid to generate a depth rating image whose values represent a gradient of depth change from one scanned point to another scanned point in the scene; convolving the components of the normal grid to generate a scalar value for each component for each point of the normal grid; for each point of the normal grid, determining from the scalar values for the components of that particular point a gradient of the normal at that point, wherein the gradients determined for the points of the normal grid collectively constitute a normal rating image; converting the depth rating image to a binary depth image using a recursive thresholding technique; converting the normal rating image to a binary normal image using a recursive thresholding technique; combining the binary depth image and the binary normal image to determine a single edge image; and grouping subsets of non-edge points as belonging to corresponding surfaces of the scene.
The method can further include the steps of determining the type of geometric primitive that would best first each group of points; fitting the geometric primitive to the data points; and intersecting adjacent planar regions in the scene.
The subject matter further includes a method for fitting a point cloud representing a comer, comprising: determining a fit of three planes to the points of the point cloud and creating the planes for a model; determining the three lines at the intersection of pairs of planes and creating the lines for the model; and determining the vertex point at the intersection of the three planes and creating a vertex point for the model.
The subject invention further includes a method for modeling a three-dimensional scene, comprising: generating a plurality of points that each represent a point on a surface of the scene; determining a best fit of a cylinder for a group of the points using surface normal estimates and global error minimization.
The subject invention further includes a method for modeling a three-dimensional scene, comprising: generating a plurality of points that each represent a point on a surface of the scene; determining a best fit of a cylinder for a group of the points using a quadric surface fit and global error minimization.
The subject invention further includes a method for modeling a three-dimensional scene, comprising: generating a plurality of points that each represent a point on a surface of the scene; determining a best fit of a sphere for m a group of the points using a quadric surface fit and global error minimization.
The subject invention further includes a method for modeling a three-dimensional scene, comprising: generating a plurality of points that each represent a point on a surface of the scene; determining a best fit quadric surface for a group of points; and determining which geometric primitive of a plurality of the family described by the quadric surface best fits the group of points.
The subject invention further includes a method for merging two geometric primitives of the same type to form a single geometric primitive of the type, comprising: creating a new group of points by combining the points used to originally fit each of the two primitives; and fitting the new geometric primitive using any appropriate fitting technique and the newly generated point group with points from each of the original primitives.
The subject invention further includes a method of registering a first model, consisting of a plurality of points and geometric primitives and having a first coordinate system, with a second model, consisting of a plurality of points and geometric primitives and having a second coordinate system, comprising: identifying by a user common features of the first and second scenes; identifying a transformation between coordinate systems that is responsive to the identification; and transforming the objects of the second model so that they use the first coordinate system.
The subject invention further includes a method of warping, comprising: selecting one or more models represented by a plurality of point clouds and geometric primitives; specifying constraints on the locations of any number of points or geometric primitives; creating an artificial volume that surrounds the points and geometric primitives in each view and assigning mechanical material characteristics to the surrounding volume; computing a minimum energy configuration for the material in the surrounding volume in which the points or geometric primitives are embedded such that the configuration satisfies all applied constraints; and displacing the points and primitives in accordance with the computed minimum energy configuration of the surrounding volume of material. In the latter method, the constraints can be specified to eliminate closure errors.
The subject invention further includes an integrated system for generating a model of a three-dimensional scene, comprising: a scanning laser device that scans the three dimensional scene with pulsed laser beam wherein the pulses of light last less than 1 nanosecond with up to 0.2 xcexcJ in each pulse and measures the time delay, with a resolution of 30 psec or less, between each emitted pulse and a corresponding pulse that is returned from a surface of the scene and wherein said scanning laser device further tracks and measures the angular orientation of the beam during the scan; and means for generating a point cloud based upon the measured time delays and angle measurements, the point cloud comprising a plurality of data points that each represents a location of a corresponding point on the surface.
The subject invention further includes a system for calibrating the measuring electronics in a device which requires monitoring the time of flight of the output pulses from a laser comprising: a single mode optical fiber with one end thereof positioned to receive the output pulses of the laser, said single mode optical fiber having a known length; a detector positioned at one of the ends of the fiber for monitoring when the pulses exit the fiber and generating a signal in response thereto, said signal being passed through the measuring electronics; and a processor for calculating a theoretical length of the fiber based on the detection of the pulse exiting the fiber and comparing that calculated length with known length of the fiber to calibrate the measuring electronics.
The optical fiber can include partial reflectors located at each end thereof so that for each laser pulse entering the fiber a train of pulses will exit the fiber and wherein said train of pulses are used to further calibrate the measuring electronics.
The system can further include delay measurement electronics and wherein the train of pulses have a fixed delay therebetween whereby the monitoring of the train of pulses can be used to calibrate the delay electronics.
The system can further include a means for varying the power of the pulses monitored by the detector and wherein said detector functions to generate a signal when the power of the detected light exceeds a predetermined threshold and wherein said processor functions to track the variation in the delay of the generation of the output signal by the detector as a function of the power of the output pulses, said processor further functioning to calibrate the measurement of the delay based on the measured power of successive pulses used for monitoring the time of flight.
The subject invention further includes an apparatus for obtaining position information about surface points of a three dimensional object comprising: a laser for generating an output beam; scanning system for moving the laser beam over the object; monitoring system for automatically measuring the range to the object based on the measurement of the reflection of the laser beam, said monitor system also tracking and measuring the angular position of the laser beam, said monitoring system having a positional accuracy for each point in three dimensional space equal to or better than six millimeters at one standard deviation over a range of up to 100 meters.
Each range measurement can be made in under 0.005 seconds. The laser can generate a pulsed output and the energy per pulse can be less than 0.2 micro joules and the average output power of the laser can be less than 1.0 milliwatts.
The subject invention further includes an apparatus for measuring the distance to an object comprising: a laser for generating a beam of output pulses; a monitoring system for measuring the distance to the object based on the reflection of the laser beam, said monitoring system having an accuracy equal to or better than 6 millimeters at one standard deviation over its entire range of up to 100 meters and wherein each measurement can be made in less than 0.005 seconds and wherein the laser has an energy per pulse of no more than 0.2 micro joules and an average power of no more than 1 milliwatt. If the object is provided with retro reflectors and where the range of operation is up to one mile.
The subject invention further includes an apparatus for acquiring three dimensional information from a remote object comprising: a scanning laser module for measuring position information of the object; a video module for capturing image information from the object; and a processor for rendering a model of the object which includes the position information and the image information.
The video image information can be collected in a spatially coincident manner with the measurement of position information. The video image information can be collected from points adjacent to the points where position information is obtained.
The subject invention further includes an apparatus for obtaining positional information about surface points of a three dimensional object comprising: a scanning module for measuring three dimensional position information about an object; a video module for capturing and displaying image information from the object; and a processor operating with the scanning and video modules and permitting the use of the image, information captured by said video module to aid in targeting the scanning module. The processor can function to specify a portion of the object to be targeted by the scanning module by dragging the image of an outline over the video image of the area to be targeted.
The subject invention further includes an apparatus for obtaining positional information about surface points of a three dimensional object comprising: a scanning module for measuring three dimensional position information about an object; a video module for displaying image information obtained from the scanning module; a processor operating with the scanning and video modules and permitting the use of the image information displayed by said video module to further refine the targeting of the scanning module.
The subject invention further includes an apparatus for obtaining positional information about surface points of a three dimensional object comprising: a scanning module for measuring three dimensional position information about an object, said scanning module including a laser for emitting a beam of visible radiation; and a processor for controlling the scanning module and wherein said laser can be manually positioned so that the visible beam will target the portion of the object to be scanned in response to a control signal from the processor.
The subject invention further includes a system for calibrating the measuring electronics in a device which requires monitoring frequency changes in a light beam generated by a laser used to measure distance to an object, wherein said beam has frequency chirp imposed thereon comprising a single mode optical fiber with one end thereof positioned to receive light from the laser; a detector positioned to receive light which has traveled through and exited the fiber in combination which light from the laser which has not traveled through the fiber, said detector for monitoring the changes in the frequency of the combined beam; and processor for determining the linearity of the chirp on the beam based on uniformity of the frequency changes measured by the detector and using the result to calibrate the measuring electronics.
The fiber can have a known length and includes a partial reflector on said one end and at least a partial reflector on the other end, and wherein light reflected from said one end of the fiber which has not traveled in the fiber is measured by the detector and wherein the processor further functions to calculate a theoretical length of the fiber based on the frequency changes measured by the detector and compares that calculated length with the known length of the fiber to calibrate the measuring electronics.